Planning a trip to a national park can feel intimidating when there’s so much to plan for! Although a trip to a national park could be planned last minute, from experience I’d recommend planning well in advance to guarantee more options and less stress. Throughout the last two years, most of my trips have been to national parks. I’ve learned so much about the planning process and wanted to share some tips. This summer I’ll be going on another cross country road trip to visit 4 more national parks and these are the tips I followed to help us plan another amazing trip!

My Tips

• If you’re planning to stay at a campground, be sure to book at least 6 months in advance for most national parks. This is the number one tip I have. Many people want to guarantee they will have an accommodation well in advance from their trip, especially during busy season which is usually summer. We are going to Glacier National Park this summer and I booked the campground for us in January (!). If planning this far in advance isn’t an option, most national parks do save ‘first come first serve’ spots at campgrounds but it is generally competitive. This tip could also apply to hotels or other accommodations near a national park.

• Similar to tip one, if you’re planning to stay at a campground do some research on the area you’d like to be in. The campgrounds in most national parks are spread out and not necessarily close to popular sites and trails. If this is important to you, you’ll want to try and book the most central campground in the park, which no surprise, is usually the campground that fills up the fastest!

• Take time to plan out hikes or other activities you’d like to do. Each national park has their own website that highlights the hikes within the park, campgrounds, historic sites, and other activities. If you plan to do a lot of hiking, I’d suggest mapping out the trails you’d like to do. On the website, you’ll find how long each hike is and the difficulty level (which is important to be aware of beforehand).

• Research other reservation requirements. Since the pandemic, several national parks have been requiring additional vehicle timed entry reservations or reservation passes for popular sites to reduce crowds. As of this year, many popular national parks are still enforcing this and it’s important to know in advance because it’s not possible to get a reservation on site. I discuss the vehicle reservation system in some of my national park posts, there are ways around this if you’re unable to get a pass in advance. These requirements will be clearly listed on each park’s website.

• Look up trail statuses on the national park’s website. As I mentioned earlier, each national park has their own website and updates are posted daily. This is particularly helpful if you’re going to a park with lots of wildlife, or drastic weather changes. Sometimes trails close if there’s too much wildlife activity or due to weather conditions. Speaking from experience, it’s better to check before hand or else you’ll arrive at the trail feeling disappointed!

• If you plan to visit multiple national parks in one trip, I’d recommend investing in the America The Beautiful pass, it’s $80 and gives you access to any national park for one year! Most national parks cost $35 for entry so the pass will definitely pay for itself if you have plans to visit more then one park within a year!

• Pack extra layers. This is a tip I learned from experience, even if you’re visiting a national park during the summer months, I found most nights or early mornings were still chilly, especially if you’re hiking in higher elevations! The climate definitely changes the higher up you hike.

• Arrive early to trailheads. Popular hikes within a national park become very crowded! I’d suggest arriving to most trailheads before 7am if you’d like to explore without crowds. This is also beneficial for securing a parking lot at a trailhead as these fill up quickly too depending on the popularity.